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A SKETCH 



OF THE 



CHANDLER FAMILY, 

IN WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS. 

By MRS. E. O. P. STURGIS. 

■ • 

From Proceedings of Worcester Society of Antiquity. 



List of previous papers by the same writer, printed by the Worcester 
Society of Antiquity: — 

I. Old Time Cattle Show. Bulletin of Worcester Society of Antiquity, 
page 104, Vol. XVI., 1898. 

II. Extracts from Old Worcester Letters, Vol. XVI., 1899, page 557. 

III. Old Lincoln Street. Bygone days in Worcester. 1900, Vol. XVII., 
page 123. 

IV. A Story of three Old Houses. Residences of Hon. Levi Lincoln. 
Proceedings, Vol. XVII., 1900, page 134. 

V. Old Worcester, No. 1, Vol. XVII., page 402, 1901. Lincoln Square. 
Main and Front Streets. Prominent houses and their occupants. 

VI. Old Worcester, No. 2, Vol. XVII., page 413, 1901. Main and Pleas- 
ant Streets. Buildings and notable people residing there. 

VII. Old Worcester, No. 3, Vol. XVII., page 470, 1901. Mam Street 
residences. The Second Parish (Unitarian) Church and its parishoners, 
during the pastorates of Rev. Dr. Aaron Bancroft and Rev. Dr. Alonzo 
Hill. The Gardiner Chandler House and the House of Rev. Dr. Aaron 
Bancroft. 

VIII. Old Worcester, No. 4. Worcester, Massachusetts, about 1840, Vol. 
XVIII., page 69. 1902 Chestnut Street. Pearl Street and its vicinity. 
Some facts Concerning Colored People and Domestic Service in the early 
life of Worcester. 



WORCESTER : 
PRESS OF CHARLES HAMILTON, 

No. 311 Main S t k e e t . 
1903. 

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'■ v. 
•31;^ A SKETCH OF THE CHANDLER FAMILY IN 
\ WORCESTER. 

" But for these lives, my life had never known 
This faded vesture which it calls its own." 

The founders of this family, so large and so influential 
before the Revolution, were of very obscure origin and 
in very humble circumstances when they landed on these 
shores. William Chandler and Annice his wife came from 
England in 1637 with their children and settled in Rox- 
bury, Massachusetts. The family seem to have been 
without any means of support, and during the long illness 
of Mr. Chandler they were cared for by their neighbors 
and friends, on account of their affection for him. He 
died in the year 1641, "having lived a very religious and 
godly life" and "leaving a sweet memory and savor behind 
him." Annice Chandler must have been an attractive 
woman, for she was not only soon married to a second 
husband, but to a third, and her last one evidently ex- 
pected her to enter into matrimony a fourth time, for in 
his "Will," he provided that she shall hAve the use of his 
warming pan "only so long as she remained his widow." 
Goodwife Parmenter, however, died in 1683, in full pos- 
session of the warming pan, the widow of her third hus- 
band. 

John Chandler, a son of William, emigrated to Woodstock, 
and there became a fartaer in a small way, or, to use his 
own words, a husbandman, for so he designates himself 
in his "Will," of Woodstock, in the County of Suffolk in 
the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England. He 
was chosen a selectman and deacon of the church in Wood- 
stock, and died in 1703, leaving a family, and property 
of the value of £512. 00. 6d. 

The second John Chandler, son of the first of that name, 



had, before his father's death, moved to New London, 
Connecticut, where he married, and in 1698 had opened 
a "house of entertainment" there. He at a later date 
moved back to South Woodstock and in 1711 was chosen 
representative to the General Court at Boston for several 
years. I quote the following: "After the erection of 
Worcester County by an act of the Legislature of Massa- 
chusetts, 2 of April, 1731, from the counties of Suffolk, 
and Middlesex, the first Probate Court in Worcester County, 
was held by Col. Chandler as Judge, in the meeting-house, 
on the 13 of July, 1731, and the first Court of Common 
Pleas and General Sessions on the 10th of August following, 
by the Hon. John Chandler, of Woodstock, commissioned 
June 30th, 1731, Chief Justice." These offices he held 
until his death, as well as that of Colonel of Militia. Lincoln, 
in his "History of Worcester" says, "To which stations 
of civil, judicial and military honors, he rose by force of 
his strong mental powers, with but slight advantages of 
education," Judge John Chandler died in Woodstock, 
Conn., August 10th, 1743, in his seventy-ninth year. Im- 
proving on his father's worldly condition as regards prop- 
erty, he leaves to his family £8,699. 16. 6d. 

John Chandler the third of the name, son of the Hon. 
John Chandler of Woodstock, moved to Worcester, when 
the County of Worcester was formed, and he seems to 
have held nearly all the offices in the town; Selectman, 
Sheriff, Probate Judge, Town Treasurer, County Treasurer, 
Register of Probate, Register of Deeds, Chief Judge of 
County Courts, Judge of Court of Common Pleas, Repre- 
sentative to the General Court, Colonel in the Militia and 
a member of the Governor's Council. One of his descend- 
ants writes that "he died in 1762, wealthy and full of 
honors." He also adds, "The Chandlers were among the 
wealthiest and most distinguished families in Worcester 
County aristocracy." I have heard some of the old people 
in the family say: "They, the Chandlers, ruled the roost 



in Worcester County in former days," but there seems to 
be no evidence that anyone of them possessed great wealth. 
The Boston News Letter of August 12, 1762, says: " Worces- 
ter, Saturday August 12, 1762, departed this hfe the Hon. 
John Chandler, Esq., of Worcester, in the 69th year of 
his age; eldest son of Hon. John Chandler late of Wood- 
stock, deceased." Lincoln in his " History of Worcester," 
says, "His talents were rather brilliant and showy, than 
solid and profound, with manners highly popular, he 
possessed a cheerful and joyous disposition, indulging in 
jest and hilarity, and exercised liberal hospitality. While 
Judge of Probate he kept open house on Court Days for 
the widows and orphans who were brought to his tribunal 
by concerns of business." Judge Chandler was married 
to Hannah Gardiner, daughter of John Gardiner of the 
Isle of Wight, in 1716, by John Mulford, Esq., their bans 
being published in Woodstock, Conn. She died in Worces- 
ter in 1738, aged 39 years, leaving nine children, the first 
members of the Chandler family who were born and bred 
in Worcester, These children through their mother were 
great-great-grandchildren of "Brave Lieutenant Lion 
Gardiner," as Lowell the poet calls him, one of the most 
picturesque figures of the early times, and of whom it was 
written after his death: "Lion Gardiner was at an early 
age a God-fearing Puritan; he emigrated to New England 
in the interest of Puritanism, and labored with and for 
the early Puritan fathers, and justly belongs among the 
founders of New England. He was singularly modest; 
firm in his friendships; patient of toil; serene amidst 
alarms; inflexible in faith"; and "he died in a good old 
age, an old man and full of years." As an ancestor of 
the Worcester family of Chandlers, though on the distaff 
side. Lion Gardiner deserves more than a passing notice. 
He was born in England in the days of "Good Queen 
Bess, and he attained his majority during the reign of 
the first English Sovereign of the House of Stuart." 



He was a gentleman by birth, an engineer by profession, 
a Dissenter in his religious opinions, an adherent of Parlia- 
ment against the King, and a friend of the Puritans, who. 
Lord Macaulay says, "were the most remarkable body of 
men, perhaps, which the world had ever produced." Fol- 
lowing in the footsteps of many of his countrymen, Lion 
Gardiner passed into the ''Low Countries," during the 
reign of Charles the First and entered the service of the 
Prince of Orange, "as an engineer and master of works 
of fortification." While there he was approached by certain 
eminent Puritans on behalf of Lords Say and Seele, Lord 
Brooke, Sir Richard Saltonstall, and other "Lords and 
Gentlemen" with an offer to go to New England to con- 
struct works of fortification, and command them under 
the direction of John Winthrop the Younger. The offer 
was accepted, and he contracted with these gentlemen, 
"for £100 per annum for a term of four years." A small 
sum this seems, to remunerate him for leaving his own 
country, to meet the dangers, known and unknown, and 
the vicissitudes of fortune in the New World. About this 
time, he went to Woerdon, in Holland, and was married 
to Mary Wileenson, daughter of Derike Wileenson, and 
with her and her Dutch maid he left Woerdon on the 10 
July, 1635, bound for New England via. London. Leaving 
Rotterdam, in the bark "Batcheler," they first entered the 
port of London, after which, on the 16th of August, they 
set sail for New England, but it was not until November 
28th, 1635, that Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts men- 
tions in his journal the arrival of a small bark sent over by 
Lord Say and Seele and others, with Gardiner, "an expert 
engineer, on board, and provisions of all sorts to begin 
a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut river." Gardiner 
remained in Boston during the winter and was engaged 
by the authorities to complete the fortifications on Fort 
Hill, but early in the spring he continued his journey, 
arri\dng at his destination in March, and began the first 



fortification erected in New England, which in honor of 
Lord Say and Seele and Lord Brooke was called Fort 
Saybrooke. 

The Indians were more numerous in this vicinity than 
in any other part of New England and the Pequots, Narra- 
gansetts and Mohegans when not fighting among them- 
selves were harassing the white settlers and attacking the 
Fort, and Gardiner's time seems to have been fully occupied 
in defending it from these savages and commanding puni- 
tive expeditions against them. Notwithstanding every 
discouragement, Gardiner remained at his post, and 
fulfilled his contract to the end, his engagement having 
expired in the summer of 1639. During his residence 
at Saybrooke Fort, his wife and her maid remained 
with him and shared with him its deprivations and dan- 
gers, and here his two eldest children were born; and to 
provide a permanent home for his family he bought 
from a friendly Sachem an island in Long Island Sound 
called Mauchouac, for which tradition says he paid, 
"one large black dog, one gun, a quantity of powder 
and shot, some rum, and a few Dutch blankets.'' At a 
later date however he procured a grant of the same 
island from the Earl of Stirling, to whom it had been 
granted by the King of England, for which he was to pay 
£5, yearly. This island, called "Mauchouac" by the 
Indians, "Isle of Wight" by the English and in later years 
"Gardiner's Island," has been the home now, for more 
than two hundred and fifty years, of the family of that 
name, contained over three thousand acres of land, and 
here Gardiner removed with his family, taking with him 
a number of men from the fort for farmers. Here he seems 
to have led a pastoral life, breeding cattle and sheep and 
keeping up a constant correspondence with the younger 
Winthrop, who owned a farm on Fisher's Island, in Long 
Island Sound, to whom he sells cows and sheep, and buying 
of him grass seed, corn and wheat and other articles of 



the same nature. In 1649, Gardiner bought a tract of 
land on Long Island, and in 1653, he placed his island 
in the care of farmers and removed to East Hampton, 
and here he wrote his history of the Pequot Wars. "In 
the latter part of 1663, he died at the age of sixty-four. 
Thus passed from earth one of the prominent figures in 
the colonial history of New England." He left his property 
to his wife, who died in 1665, aged sixty-four years. 

The Isle of Wight now came into the possession of their 
oldest son David, and from him John Gardiner, the father 
of Hannah Chandler, inherited it. He died suddenly, by 
accident, caused by falling from a horse at Groton, Con- 
necticut, and was buried in New London in the same State, 
and the following inscription is on his tombstone: 

Here lyeth Buried y Body of 
His Excelcy John Gardiner 
Third Lord of y Isle of Wight 
He was born April 19th 1661 and 
Departed this Life June 25th 1738. 

One of his descendants writes: "John was a hearty, 
active, robust man; generous and upright; sober at home 
but jovial abroad, and swore sometimes; always kept a 
chaplain; he was a good farmer, and made great improve- 
ments in the Island. He had an expensive family of 
children, and gave them for those times large portions." 
It was in the lifetime of John Gardiner that Captain Kidd, 
concerning whom so many romantic stories have been told, 
visited the Isle of Wight. He left a "Will," and I quote 
the following from it: "To my beloved daughter Hannah 
Chandler, I give and bequeath, the sum of one hundred 
pounds in silver money at eight shillings the ounce Troy 
Weight, to be paid to her by my executors." In another 
part of this document, he directs that she should have a 
portion of his personal property, such as plate, etc. " I give 
and bequeath unto my granddaughter Sarah Chandler, 
the sum of fifty pounds in New England money, to be paid 



her by my executors when she shall have arrived at the age 
of eighteen or marriage, which shall happen first." This 
will of John Gardiner, is dated " 14th of December 1737, in 
the eleventh year of the reign of King George the Second 
over Great Britain." 

Sarah Chandler was, at her grandfather's death, only 
thirteen years old, and as she was my great-grandmother, 
it would be interesting to know why she was selected from 
among the Chandler grandchildren to receive this bequest. 

The two eldest children of John and Hannah Gardiner 
Chandler were daughters, named Mary and Esther. The 
former married Benjamin Greene of Boston, and the latter 
Rev. Thomas Clapp. John Chandler, the fourth to bear 
his name, was the third child and was born in 1720; was 
married twice and had sixteen children. He was Colonel 
of the Worcester Regiment, and in 1757 saw active duty 
in that capacity. Up to 1774 "John Chandler's hfe had 
been one of almost unbroken prosperity, but when the 
rebellion broke out against England, his loyalist sentiments 
brought him into angry opposition to popular feeling, and 
he was compelled to leave home and family and retire to 
Boston." "When Boston fell into the hands of the Conti- 
nental army, he fled to Halifax and thence to London, 
where he spent the rest of his life, twenty-four years." 

"The Hon. John Chandler, of Worcester, whose sons 
and daughters were as numerous as those of his Royal 
Master, and with whose family every other leading family 
of the region was proud to entwine itself by marriage 
alliance, sleeps far from the town and shire of whose 
honors he had almost the monoply." "He succeeded to 
the military, nmnicipal, and some of the judicial offices of 
his father and grandfather, and inherited the characteristic 
traits of his ancestors. He was cheerful in temperament, 
engaging in manners, hospitable as a citizen, friendly and 
kind as a neiglibor, and industrious nnd enterprising as a 
merchant. He was a refugee and sacrificed large posses- 



10 

sions, £36,190. 0, as appraised in this country by commis- 
sioners here, to a chivalrous sense of loyalty. In the 
schedule exhibited to the British Commissioners, appointed 
to adjust the compensation to the Americans who adhered 
to the royal cause, the amount of real and personal property 
which was confiscated, is estimated at £11,067 and the 
losses from income from office, from destruction of business 
and other causes, at nearly £6000 more." So just and 
moderate was this compensation ascertained to be, at a 
time when extravagant claims were presented by others, 
that his claims were allowed in full; he was denominated 
in England, "The Honest Refugee." The Boston News 
Letter of 16th October, 1760, observes: "We hear from 
Worcester that on the evening of the 9th inst, the house 
of Mr. Sheriff Chandler, and others of that town, were 
beautifully illuminated on account of the success of his 
Majesty's Arms in America." 

"Hon. John Chandler was one of the six inhabitants of 
Worcester who were included in the act of banishment, 
forbidding the return of former citizens of the State, who 
had joined the enemy; requiring them, if they once visited 
their native country, forthwith to depart; and pronouncing 
the penalty of death if they should be found a second time 
within this jurisdiction." Of this list of six were his sons 
Rufus and William, his brother-in-law James Putnam and 
his nephew, my grandfather. Dr. Wm. Paine, who went by 
the name of "The Tory Doctor," and whom the Worcester 
people threatened to hang, if he ever set foot in Worcester 
again. John Chandler was styled "Tory Tom," for in 
those days John and Thomas were considered the same 
name. 

John Chandler died in London in 1800, and was buried 
in Islington church-yard, and on his tombstone is inscribed: 
"Here lies the body of John Chandler Esq., formerly of 
Worcester, Massachusetts Bay, North America, who died 
the 26th of September A. D. 1800, in the 80th year of liis 



11 

age." Hecently a nephew of John Chandler, of the fourth 
generation, made a pious pilgrimage to the grave of his 
uncle, but found the church-yard had been turned, as 
many other old grave yards in London have been, into a 
park, the stones all being level with the ground, so there 
was no trace of the grave he was in search of. This work 
had been done, however, so short a time before his visit, 
that the sexton was able to point out the exact spot where 
it was. 

John Adams, late President of the United States, says 
in his diary: "The Chandlers exercised great influence in 
the County of Worcester until they took the side of govern- 
ment in the Revolution, and lost their position." "The 
family of the Chandlers were well bred, agreeable people, 
and I visited them as often as my school, and my studies 
in the lawyer's office would admit." 

I have never known the exact spot in Main street where 
John Chandler's house was located, but have been tokl 
that he owned a farm somewhere between Front and 
Mechanic streets, and the following story has been con- 
nected with it: The pigs were being killed, and Mrs. Chand- 
ler had hanging from the crane in her kitchen fireplace 
two enormous kettles of boiling water, ready for scalding 
them when they were brought in, when some American 
soldiers entered. She ordered them to leave at once, and 
said, pointing to the kettles, or "In you go," and the 
story goes that they did not delay their departure. John 
Chandler attended the "Old South Meeting House," and 
his pew, a wall one, was on the right-hand side of the 
minister, next to the pulpit by the stairs. This pew was 
directly opposite one of a friend who chose it because it 
had a door opening under the pulpit, where he kept a 
barrel of cider for "nooning use." 

The eldest son of John Chandler bore his name, and 
became the fifth of the name. He was born in Worcester 
in 1742 and emigrated to Petersham in Worcester 



LofC. 



12 

County, where he became a successful merchant. His 
house was a fine old colonial mansion, in the northern 
part of the town, and is still in good preservation, and 
the staircase I recall as being very handsome. Con- 
nected with the house was a "Deer Park," from which 
place the deer strayed one winter when the snow was 
deep enough to cover the fence which surrounded it. 
Mr. Chandler died in 1794, leaving five children, the oldest, 
becoming the sixth John Chandler and the head of the 
mercantile house of John Chandler & Brothers. An old 
man in Petersham told me some years since that these 
brothers had large warehouses in different parts of Worces- 
ter County, one being at Petersham, and that their great 
wagons used to bring a variety of goods from Boston to 
these houses, and from them goods were supplied to all 
the small villages in the vicinity. 

The sixth John was an eccentric man and many queer 
stories are told concerning him. One was that when the 
interior of the church in Petersham required painting, he 
offered to pay for one-half of the work, and unbeknown 
to the parishioners, the work was done, and when he noti- 
fied them that his share was finished, they found just 
one-half of the meeting-house had been painted bright 
green, and he notified them he had done his half, and they 
could do the other. He took charge of the church clock, 
and when the minister objected to the erratic mode in 
which the timepiece was managed, he said, "you take care 
of your end of the meeting-house and I will take care of 
mine." He divided his time between Boston and Petersham, 
but considered the latter place his home. 

The fifth John Chandler had a daughter named Lydia, 
who was styled " an amiable, handsome, delightful woman." 
It was said of her that "no woman in Worcester County 
ever refused so many good offers of marriage as she, for 
she had over forty." She married a Boston gentleman and 
died in 1837, leaving two children. The youngest, whom 



13 

I knew in her old age, possessed a portrait of her mother, 
of no value as a painting, but valuable as a likeness, and 
illustrative of art in New England in its day, and showing 
the style of dress of the period. On her death-bed she 
exacted from her niece a promise that she would destroy 
this picture after her death. As a relative of this lady 
whose portrait was to be destroyed, for she was my father's 
second cousin, I was invited to be present at the ceremony. 
Thanksgiving Day was appointed and the niece, dressed 
in her best apparel, brought the portrait into the room, 
where a large fire was burning, and first the frame was 
made way with and then the canvas, cut into pieces, was 
thrown upon the flames and the sacrifice was soon com- 
plete. It was a weird proceeding, and done against the 
wishes of the niece, who had put off fulfilling her promise 
to her aunt so long as she could do so. 

Nathaniel Chandler was another son of the fifth John 
Chandler. He was born in 1773 and graduated from Har- 
vard Universitj'- in 1792; resided in Petersham, Worcester 
County, and conducted that branch of the mercantile house 
of John Chandler & Brothers located there, residing in 
his father's house and was the last of the name to do so. 
He later moved to South Lancaster, and from him the 
present family in that town is descended. He died in 1852. 

*'In person Mr, Chandler was of medium height and size, 
his complexion was light, his features regular but marked." 
"He retained his intelligence, shrewdness, wit and dry 
humor, his dignity of person and character, his marked 
civility and gentlemanly bearing until the last." The last 
John Chandler of Lancaster was his son, and he died a 
few years since; and there are now only one son and one 
daughter and five grandchildren left of the Lancaster 
branch of the Chandlers, who are residents at this date. 
In Petersham there are none of the name, belonging to 
this family. 

I remember Mr. Chandler well, for he frequently visited 



14 

at my father's house when I was a child and I recall how 
entertaining he was as he commented on people and things. 
He was one of the last people living who would be called 
"A gentleman of the old school." It is a singular fact 
that, although the fourth John Chandler had sixteen 
children, not a single descendant bearing his name is now 
living in Worcester and only very few of those of another. 
Clark Chandler was the third son of his and was employed in 
the office of Register of Probate; was appointed joint 
Register of Probate with Hon. Timothy Paine and held 
that appointment from 1766 to 1774. He was also Town 
Clerk of Worcester, from 1768 to 1775. In 1774 he brought 
upon himself the just indignation of the Whig majority 
of the people by entering on the town's records without 
authority a protest against the Whig proceedings of the 
town, and he was obliged, in presence of the inhabitants, 
to blot out the obnoxious record, dipping his fingers in 
ink, and drawing them over the protest. In 1775 Mr. 
Chandler left Worcester, but in the same year returned 
and surrendered himself. He was committed to prison on 
suspicion of having held intercourse with the enemy, but 
later was permitted to go on parole, and to reside in Lan- 
caster. After a time he returned to Worcester, and kept 
a store at the corner of Main and Front streets. He is 
described **as rather undersized and wore bright red small- 
clothes; was odd and singular in appearance, which often 
provoked the jeers and jokes of those around him, but 
which he was apt to repay with compound interest." He 
died in 1804. 

Rufus Chandler was born in 1747, old style; he gradua- 
ted at Harvard College in 1766, in a class of forty, with 
the rank of the fourth in "dignity of family." He read 
law in the office of Ms uncle, Hon. James Putnam, in Worces- 
ter, where he afterwards practiced his profession until the 
courts were closed in 1774. Rufus Chandler inherited the 
loyalty of his family and he left the country at the com- 



15 

mencement of hostilities. He was banished in 1778, and 
resided in England as a private gentleman and died in 
London in 1823, and his remains were laid with those of 
his father's in Islington church-yard. 

Gardiner Chandler was born in 1749 and became a 
merchant at Hardwick. He sided with the loyalists and 
left the state, and his property was confiscated and paid 
into the treasury of the state. Returning to Hardwick, 
however, it was voted by the town "that as Gardiner 
Chandler has now made acknowledgment and says he is 
sorry for his past conduct, that they will treat him as a 
friend and neighbor so long as he shall behave himself 
well." He was the grandfather of the late Mrs. George 
T. Rice, H. G. 0. Blake and others, and a great-great- 
granddaughter is still living in Worcester. 

Nathaniel Chandler, born in 1750, was a lawyer in Peters- 
ham and a graduate of Harvard College; a loyalist, and 
at one time he commanded a volunteer corps in the Brit- 
ish service. He died in Worcester in 1801, at the house 
of his sister, Mrs. Sever, which stood on the spot in Elm 
street, where the Lincoln House now stands. 

William Chandler graduated from Harvard College in 
1772, and was ranked in his class "No. 1, on the dignity 
of his family." He was one of the " 18 County Gentlemen," 
who addressed Governor Gage on his departure in 1775, 
and was driven, therefor, and for other acts of loyalty, 
from his home. In 1776 he went to Halifax. He had 
but just returned from Europe with his cousin. Dr. Wm. 
Paine of Worcester, for the Massachusetts Spy, 1775, an- 
nounced: "Messrs. Chandler and Paine of this town are 
arrived in Salem from London." After the Revolution he 
returned to Worcester, where he died in 1793. 

The younger sons of "Tory Tom," as he was styled in 
Worcester, seem to have accepted the new order of affairs, 
and abstaining from politics, to have turned their attention 
to more homely and peaceful occupations. Charles Chand- 



16 

ler at the time of his death in 1798 was a merchant in 
Worcester, under the firm of C. & S. Chandler, and seems 
to have been in more than easy circumstances, owning a 
large tract of land in the southern part of the town. Samuel 
Chandler lived in the vicinity of Summer street and his 
farm extended back to and included "Chandler Hill." 
He and his brother were among the largest land owners 
and the very best farmers in Worcester. "He was gentle- 
manly, hospitable, noticed strangers ; and when he lived in 
a house that stood at the foot of what is now Pearl street, 
Worcester, gave a ball which was long remembered. At 
this ball the children were invited in the afternoon and 
stayed till 6 o'clock p. m., and the adults were invited to 
spend the evening." He died in 1813. 

Thomas Chandler graduated from Harvard College in 
1787; was a merchant in Worcester, his store being in 
front of the "Town House," and he lived at the corner 
of Main and Park streets. At one time while residing 
in the "Green House" a mile out on the Leicester road, 
he gave a "Sillabub" party, which was long remembered 
by those present. The great feature of the entertainment 
was drinking "Sillabub," for the making of which the late 
Mrs. John Davis, the niece of the host, gives the following 
receipt: "Put port wine and sugar in a pail and milk the 
cow directly on to it." 

This record of the sons of "The Honest Refugee" is 
only of interest and value as it represents the political 
and social life in Worcester in their day and generation. 
They are living pictures of that period, and in our mind's 
eye we can see these men as they passed up and down 
the little village street, one hundred and more years ago, 
pursuing their daily avocations. We enter with them into 
the "King's Arms," a tavern which stood on the northern 
corner of Elm and Main streets and which was a famous 
resort of the royahsts, and listen to the toasts they give 
as they drink to the health of the "English Sovereign," 



17 

and we follow them in thought to the house of their uncle, 
Gardiner Chandler, where in the large parlor the "Tories 
used to gather in solemn conclave at the breaking out of 
the Revolution, and we hear words of grave import, as 
they began to realize the importance of the great political 
dangers culminating around them. 

I have referred to the few descendants of John Chandler 
now living in Worcester. The late Governor Levi Lincoln 
married one of his granddaughters, and one of their children 
is still living, and a number of grandchildren of more re- 
mote relationship. 

Allusion has been made to some of the Chandlers having 
graduated from Harvard College, ranking in the class 
according to the "dignity of family." It may not be 
generally known that in the old Colonial days the graduates 
were numbered in the catalogue according to their social 
standing in the community and not alphabetically as they 
are now, a custom which would hardly find favor in these 
latter days. 

An antiquarian has made the remark that in searching 
for material concerning one's family, that a person in so 
doing would "find certain pious family fictions, that must 
not be disturbed." This seems good advice, for it is im- 
possible to investigate or verify traditions which have 
been handed down for many generations, but which may 
still be valuable as illustrating the period in which the 
people lived of whom they are told. 

Bearing this advice in mind, I relate herewith family 
legends which have been handed down from one genera- 
tion to another among my kinsfolk, leaving it for my 
readers to determine what credence shall be attached to 
them. 

Gardiner Chandler was the second son and fourth child 
of John and Hannah Gardiner Chandler, but as all I have 
to say concerning him has been embodied in the account 
of the Chandler house on Main street, I will not repeat 



18 

it here. Three of his descendants are at this date Hving 
in Worcester, but not bearing his name. 

Part II. 

Sarah Chandler was the fifth child of John and Hannah 
Gardiner Chandler and the third daughter. "There were 
seven of these sisters and, from their distinguished attri- 
butes, were called in their day and generation 'The Seven 
Stars.' She was born in the Httle village of Worcester 
Jan'y 11, 1725, and died there in 1811 in her eighty-fifth 
year. She was the little girl of thirteen years of age, to 
whom her grandfather Gardiner left the fifty pounds in 
silver, to the exclusion of all her brothers and sisters. In 
1749, she was married to Timothy Paine, whose mother 
became, after the death of her first husband, the second 
wife of John Chandler, so these young people had probably 
been brought up under the same roof from early childhood. 

"Timothy Paine and Sarah Chandler his wife not only 
feared God, but honored the King," so the old record runs. 

"They belonged to families, often associated together, in 
the remembrance of the present generation, as having ad- 
hered, through the wavering fortunes, and final success of 
the Revolution, devoted and consistently, to the British 
Crown. The Chandlers were in every respect, the most 
eminent family in Worcester County, and furnished many 
men of distinction in its ante-revolutionary history. They 
were closely allied by blood, marriage or friendship with 
the aristocracy of the county and province, in which they 
had extensive and unbounded sway. They had large pos- 
sessions, and shared with the Paine family the entire 
local influence at Worcester, but did not, like that family, 
survive the shock of the Revolution, and retain a 'local 
habitation and a name.' 'Their property was confiscated 
and they were declared traitors.' 

"The family was broken up; some members of it went 
abroad and died there, others were scattered in this country ; 



19 

yet not a few of their descendants, eminent in the most 
honorable pursuits, and in the highest positions in life, 
under different names and in various localities, represent 
that ancient, honorable and once numerous race." 

"Mrs. Timothy Paine, or Madam Paine as she was styled 
from respect to her dignity and position, was a woman 
of uncommon energy and acuteness. She was noted in 
her day for her zeal in aiding, as far as was in her power, 
the followers of the crown, and in defeating the plans of 
the rebellious colonists. In her the King possessed a faith- 
ful ally. In her hands his dignity was safe, and no insult 
offered to it, in her presence, could go unavenged." 

"Her wit and loyalty never shone more conspicuously 
than on the following occasion: When President John 
Adams was a young man, he was invited to dine with the 
court and bar at the house of Judge Paine, an eminent 
loyalist of Worcester. When the wine was circulating 
around the table, Judge Paine gave as a toast, 'The King.' 
Some of the Whigs were about to refuse to drink it, but 
Mr. Adams whispered to them to comply, saying, ' we shall 
have an opportunity to return the compliment.' At 
length, when he was desired to give a toast, he gave, 
'The Devil.' As the host was about to resent the indignity, 
his wife calmed him and turned the laugh upon Mr. Adams, 
by immediately exclaiming, 'My dear! As the gentleman 
has been so kind as to drink to our King, let us by no 
means refuse, in our turn, to drink to his.' 

"Madam Paine, in passing the guard house, which stood 
nearly where the old Nashua Hotel stood in Lincoln square, 
heard the soldiers say, 'Let us shoot the old Tory.' She 
turned round facing them and said, ' Shoot if you dare ' and 
then she reported to General Knox the insult she had 
received, which was not repeated." 

She then lived in a house nearly opposite, on Lincoln 
street. It was in the door of this house, tradition says, 
she placed herself, when the Whig soldiers came to carry 



20 

off her loyal husband and told them they should not enter 
the house except over her prostrate body. The china 
dinner service used at the dinner referred to is still extant, 
or was so in the lifetime of the late Miss Susan Trumbull, 
who was Madam Paine's great-granddaughter. It is very 
evident, judging from the anecdotes told of my great- 
grandmother, that she had inherited many of the attributes 
of her great-great-grandfather, the old Indian fighter, 
Lion Gardiner. There are over twenty-five descendants 
of Madam Paine now living in Worcester, and a large 
number elsewhere — the most noted one at the present 
time being the eldest daughter of the President of the 
United States, who is her grandchild in the sixth generation. 
Judge Paine's house was situated at the lower part of, 
Lincoln street, a httle to the north of the "Hancock Arms," 
and with the exception of the house belonging to Governor 
John Hancock was the only one in the street. This latter 
house was sold in 1781 to Gov. Levi Lincoln the elder. 
The family must have been more than well off, judging 
from the style of their living, and the items mentioned 
in Mrs. Paine's "Will," which she bequeathed to her chil- 
dren show that her house was well furnished. "The 
crimson satin bed-cover," and "the silver butter boats," 
"the china" and other articles are indicative of more than 
easy circumstances. Her parlor chairs were imported 
from England and are still in existence, among her descen- 
dants. Her shoes with buckles, of which there were many, 
were formerly at her son's house, of English make, made 
of some silk material of different colors, with very high 
heels, and pointed toes, show that her style of dress was 
costly. Madam Paine must have inherited money from 
her father John Chandler, and when he died the widow, 
the mother of Timothy Paine, had set off to her £25,505, 
and besides this sum, her personal property was valued 
at £611. 11. 9; her silver-ware alone was valued at £84. 
11. 8. One-fifth of all this property came at her death 



21 

to her son Timothy. Her slave was left to Mrs. Paine. 
The servants in the house were probably slaves, which I 
have heard were freed. In those days the hours were 
very primitive and I have heard some of the old people 
in the family say that the dinner hour was eleven or twelve 
o'clock, and that when Madam Paine gave her tea parties, 
the company came at three or four o'clock, and, having 
had supper at five, went home at sundown. Mr. and Mrs. 
Paine attended the South Church, the only one in Worcester 
in those days, though their children as they grew up seceded 
from it and helped to found the Second Parish, and when 
they passed away, they were laid in the cemetery on the 
Common. When the Rural Cemetery was arranged, my 
father endeavored to find their remains to have them re- 
moved, but could find no trace of them. 

When the late Governor Lincoln was married in 1807, 
he brought his bride to the Paine house. "Aunt Paine's 
house," Mrs. Lincoln used to call it, and as Mrs. Paine 
did not die until 1811, she must have passed the last years 
of her life with her son Dr. Paine, which fact would account 
for her personal property being left there. Mrs. Charlotte 
Bradish, the daughter of Nathaniel Paine, was born in 
the "old Paine House, by the two elm trees," in Lincoln 
street, in 1788. She told me of this fact herself. She 
married Timothy Paine Bradish in 1818 and died in Worces- 
ter in 1866. Timothy Paine, the husband of Sarah Chand- 
ler, was born in Bristol, R. I.. July 30th, 1730, and died 
in Worcester July 17, 1793, aged sixty- three years. His 
ancestor, Stephen Paine, of the parish of Great Ellingham, 
County of Norfolk, England, emigrated, in 1638, with his 
wife and three children, to America. Timothy was the 
great-grandson of Stephen, whom I judge to have been of 
small means, as his estate at his death was valued at only 
£535; the family, like that of the Chandlers, was evidently 
of humble origin, and I believe were millers in the old 
country. The mother of Timothy, the widow of Hon 



22 

Nathaniel Paine, married the third John Chandler, the 
father of Sarah whom Timothy later espoused. He came 
with her to Worcester at the age of eight years. I find in 
the catalogue of Harvard College that Timothy Paine be- 
longed to the class of 1748, and that he was, according to 
"dignity of family,'^ the fifth in his class. This custom, 
which seems so out of place in these latter days, of reg- 
istering the students according to their social position in 
the colony, was happily discontinued in 1772. 

"Soon after leaving college Mr. Paine was engaged in 
public affairs and the number and variety of offices which 
he held exhibit the estimation in which he stood. He 
was at different periods Clerk of the Courts; Register of 
Deeds; Register of Probate; member of the executive 
council of the Province; in 1774 he was appointed one 
of his Majesty's Mandamus Councillors; Selectman and 
Town Clerk; and Representative many years to the Gene- 
ral Court." 

"Sohd talents, practical sense, candor, sincerity, ability 
and mildness were the characteristics of his life. He was 
also Special Justice of the Supreme Court in 1771." 

"When the appeal to arms approached, between this 
country and Great Britain, many of the inhabitants of 
Worcester, most distinguished for talents, influence and 
honors adhered with constancy to the King. Educated 
with veneration for the sovereign to whom they had sworn 
fealty; indebted to his bounty for the honors and wealth 
they possessed, — loyalty and gratitude alike influenced 
them to resist acts which to them seemed treasonable 
and rebellious. We may respect the sincerity of motives, 
attested by the sacrifice of property, the loss of power, 
and all the miseries of confiscation and exile. The struggle 
between the patriotism of the people, and the loyalty of 
a minority, powerful in numbers, as well as talents, wealth 
and influence, arrived at its crisis in Worcester, early in 
1774, and terminated in the total defeat of the loyalists. 



23 

Among the many grievances, the vesting the government 
in the dependents of the King, aggravated the irritation 
and urged to acts of violence. The weight of pubhc in- 
dignation fell on those appointed to office under the new 
acts, and they were soon compelled to lay aside their 
obnoxious honors. 

"Timothy Paine, Esq., had received a commission as 
one of the Mandamus Councillors. High as was the per- 
sonal regard and respect for the purity of private character 
of this gentleman it was controlled by the political feeling 
of a period of excitement, and measures were taken to 
compel his resignation of a post which was unwelcome 
to himself, but which he dared not refuse, when declining 
would have been construed as contempt for the authority 
of the King by whom it was conferred." The journals 
of the day best describe his treatment by the indignant 
Whigs. "The spirit of the people was never known to 
be so great since the first settlement of the colonies as 
it is at this time." "People in the county for hundreds 
of miles are prepared and determined to die or be Free." 

"August 23, 1774. 

"Yesterday, Mr. Paine, of Worcester was visited by 
nearly 3000 people; notice was given of the intended visit 
the day before, from one town to another, and though 
the warning was so short, the above mnnber collected, 
and most of them entered the town before 7 o'c in the 
morning. They all marched into the town in order, and 
drew up on the common, and behaved admirably well; 
they chose a committee of two or three men of each 
company to wait upon Mr. Paine, and demand a resigna- 
tion of his office as Councillor; that committee being 
large, they chose, from among themselves, a sub-committee, 
who went to his house, when he agreed to resign that 
office, and drew up an acknowledgment, mentioning his 
obligations to the county for favors done him, his sorrow 



24 

for taking the oath, and a promise that he never would 
act in that office contrary to the charter, and after that 
he came with the committee to the common, where the 
people were drawn up in two bodies, making a lane between 
them, through which he and the committee passed, and 
read divers times as they passed along, the said acknowledg- 
ment. At first one of the committee read the resignation 
of Mr. Paine in his behalf. It was then insisted that he 
should read it with his hat off. He hesitated and demanded 
protection from the committee. Finally he complied; 
and was allowed to retire to his dwelling." 

Tradition says that a bull joined this procession, and 
continued to bellow as it proceeded on the way, only stop- 
ping when Mr. Paine began to speak. Tradition also 
declares that in the excitement attendant upon this scene, 
Mr. Paine's wig was either knocked off, or fell off. But as 
it may be, from that day he abjured wigs, and never wore 
one again. The now dishonored wig in question he gave 
to one of his negro slaves, called "Worcester." "In the 
earlier days of the Revolution, some American soldiers 
quartered at his house repaid his perhaps too unwilfing 
hospitality and signified the intensity of their feelings 
towards him, by cutting the throat of his full length por- 
trait." This picture I remember very well and am probably 
the only person who can do so. After the death of Mr. 
and Mrs. Paine, it with other property of theirs was trans- 
ferred to the house of his son. Dr. Wm. Paine, and always 
hung over the fireplace, in what was then the dining- 
room. When the house was remodelled in 1836, after Dr. 
Paine's death, the picture disappeared, and I never knew 
what became of it. It represented a stout gentleman, 
sitting at a table on which were law books. He wore a 
wig and was dressed in a suit of drab coloi-ed clothes, with 
a red waistcoat. He wore knee-breeches, long stockings, 
with low shoes with buckles on them and the throat of 
the portrait was cut from ear to ear. Following the custom 



25 

of the English judges, Judge Paine used to drive to the 
court house when holding court in his glass coach, which 
must have been a mere form, for the court house was not 
more than five minutes' walk from his house. Among 
the other articles brought to Dr. Paine's house after Judge 
Paine's death, was this coach, which stood in what was 
called the "Chaise House" for many years. It was a 
very handsome vehicle, painted outside a sage green, with 
much glass and gilding about it and lined with satin of 
the same color, to match the outside. It was in fairly 
good repair when I remember it, and served as a play- 
thing for the children of the family. I don't know what 
became of it finally and I can only regret that this old 
carriage, which must have been imported from England, 
and my great-grandfather's portrait had not been preserved 
for his descendants. 

Timothy and Sarah Paine had nine children, the oldest 
being William, who was born in Worcester in 1750 and 
died there in April, 1833, aged eighty-three yeans. He 
graduated at Harvard College in 1768 with the rank of 
second in the class of forty-two members. In the college 
catalogue of the class of 1768 I read the following: 

"Wilham Paine A.M.; M.D. (Hon.) 1818; Fellow Am: 
Acad." 

One of his early instructors was John Adams, afterwards 
President of the United States, who was then reading law 
in the office of Hon. James Putnam at Worcester. He 
began the practice of medicine in Worcester in 1771. In 
that year Mr. Adams revisited Worcester after an absence 
of sixteen years, and notes his impressions of his former 
pupils as follows: "Here I saw many young gentlemen 
who were my scholars and pupils when I kept school here. 
John Chandler, Esq., of Petersham; Rufus Chandler 
the lawyer; and Dr. William Paine, who now studies physic 
with Dr. Holyoke of Salem; and others, most of whom 
began to learn Latin with me. Drank tea at Mr. Putnam's 



26 

with Mr. and Mrs. Paine, Dr. Holyoke's lady and Dr. 
Billy Paine. The doctor is a very civil, agreeable, and 
sensible young gentleman." Such an excellent memoir of 
Dr. Paine has been so recently issued by the American 
Antiquarian Society, in which the author deals so fully 
with his connection with the American Revolution, that 
I will not refer to it here. "To the last he was an inflexible 
loyalist in feeling. He possessed extensive professional 
learning, and was equally respected as a physician and 
a citizen and regained the confidence and long enjoyed 
the respect and esteem of the community." 

I was only seven years old when my grandfather died, 
but I remember him very well. At this time he had given 
up the practice of his profession, but he left his house every 
morning in his old chaise with an equally old horse to 
make a round of friendly visits. One of the last families 
in which he practiced was that of the late Gov. Levi Lincoln, 
and one of his daughters has told me with what regret 
her mother received the notice from him that he would 
make no more professional visits. I can see Dr. Paine 
now as he walked out to the piazza, an alert, well pre- 
served old gentleman, careful of his dress, which consisted 
of a dark blue dress coat, and drab colored trousers, with a 
bunch of seals hanging from his watch-fob, and on his 
head a beaver hat of drab color. His complexion was 
fair, his hair was snow white, and was brushed back from 
his face and tied in a queue bound with black ribbon, 
which ended with a bow of the same. His first call was 
upon his daughter Mrs. Rose, who lived at the corner of 
Main and School streets. Miss Rachel Rose in her letters, 
refers to him as "The Good Doctor," and I judge the 
family depended on him for guidance regarding their 
domestic affairs. Then there was his sister, Mrs. Bradish, 
to see, who then lived in the northern part of a double 
brick house, on the western side of Main street, belonging 
to the Flagg family, with her three granddaughters. In 



27 

the south side Uved Mr, Elisha Flagg, close to the bakery, 
famous on public days for soft crackers, and sugar ginger- 
bread. Miss Hannah Paine had married a gentleman by 
the name of Bradish. The Worcester Spy of Oct. 21, 
1772, contains the following: "This day Ebenezer Bradish 
Esq., of Cambridge, was united in the most agreeable 
state of human life, to Miss Hannah Paine, daughter of 
Hon. Timothy Paine, Esq., of this place— of whom it may 
not be told her acquaintances, but she is one of the most de- 
serving of her sex." I remember seeing tliis old lady 
once, when she lived with her relative. Mis. Francis Blake, 
in the old Maccarty house. She died in 1841, leaving no 
descendants in Worcester. 

The next call would perhaps be on Mrs. Trumbull, who 
lived in Trumbull square, who had married Dr. Joseph 
Trumbull of Petersham. "The Worcester Spy of February 
16, 1786, announces the fact of Dr. Trumbull's marriage 
to the very amiable Miss Elizabeth Paine, youngest daughter 
of the Hon. Timothy Paine, Esq., of this Town." Mr. 
Trumbull was a martyr to gout, and being somewhat of 
an artist, painted a picture of the devil touching his toes 
with red hot coals. He died in 1824. I never to my 
knowledge saw this great-aunt of mine, but I went to her 
funeral in the South Meeting House, she having died one 
year before her brother William. 

Mrs. Trumbull lived in a house, formed from the old 
court house, which had been given her by her sister Sarah, 
who had married a rich merchant of Boston, Mr. James 
Perkins. She also gave her the share of property whicii 
came to her under the "Will of her father Hon. Timothy 
Paine." The late George A. Trumbull was a son of Dr. 
Joseph Trumbull. A great-grandchild is the only descend- 
ant of Mrs. Trumbull living in Worcester. 

The visits of Dr. Paine included the family of his brother 
Nathaniel, and that of his cousin Mrs. Bancroft, as well 
as that of Mrs. Levi Lincoln, his kinswoman, upon whom 



28 

he continued to make friendly calls. His friends the 
Waldos and Salisburys, former patients, were not forgotten ; 
so the old gentleman was kept busy during the early part 
of the day, and after dinner he was ready for his armchair 
by the wood fire, reading and dozing the afternoon away. 
I recall his funeral in the church of the Second Parish, 
to which I went, and seeing him laid in the old Mechanic 
street Cemetery, from which he was removed with his 
wife to the Rural Cemetery at a later date. There was 
a light fall of snow the night previous, and the early spring 
flowers were showing their bright colors above their white 
covering. 

Dr. Paine had been presented during one of his visits 
to England to King George the Third and Queen Charlotte, 
wearing the court dress prescribed for medical men, which 
was a gray cloth coat, with silver buttons, a white satin 
waistcoat, satin smallclothes, silk hose, and wearing a 
sword, and a fall of lace from his cravat or collar, and 
lace ruffles in the sleeves. Until recently I had this lace 
in my possession. It was interesting to read some of his 
letters, written as he was about leaving England with the 
English army. In one of them he writes, "The Colonists 
had better lay down their arms at once, for we are coming 
over with an overwhelming force to destroy them." It 
is not to be wondered at, that he supposed the colonists 
were in no position to withstand the might and power 
of Great Britain. His wife and children seemed to have 
for a time remained with his father and mother while he 
was in England, but finding their position in Worcester 
unpleasant on account of their unpopular political opinions, 
she left and went to Rhode Island. I saw a letter some 
years ago written by Mr. Timothy Orne of Salem, Mrs. 
Dr. Paine's father, to Judge Paine, in which he reports 
the safe arrival of his daughter and family within the 
"British Lines." I suppose too they had small means, 
for Levi Lincoln the elder advised that Miss Esther Paine, 



29 

the oldest daughter of Dr. Paine, should be put out to 
service! "The Tory Dr.'s daughter" he called her. In 
those days, to use an Irish phrase, ''The Lincolns and 
Paines did not take tea together." The Whigs and Tories 
would not meet except as enemies. Dr. Paine's letters to 
his relatives in Lancaster were amusing, for he seems to 
have depended on them for some of his domestic supplies, 
and as a sample of the prices in those days, he writes, "If 
the butter is of extra quality I am willing to pay as high 
as nine pence per pound for it." 

There seems to have been gay doings in the old Paine 
house, when Sarah or, as her family called her, "Sally 
Paine" was married to Mr. Perkins. One of his sisters 
writes the following: 

"In case of my brother's marriage nearly eighty-nine 
suns have not entirely obliterated the incidents, although 
they have the dates; you have revived the memory of 
my journey from Boston to Worcester, with my brother, 
on the great occasion of his marriage; it was in the winter 
season, and in a small open sleigh. We happened to upset 
in a snow bank! This, too, with the remembrance of a 
sleighing party and a dance at Leicester, with its accom- 
panying jollification, are all the lingering memories of that 
by-gone time." This marriage took place in 1786. 

"Samuel Paine," the third child of Timothy and Sarah 
Paine, was born in Worcester in 1753; and died in 1807 
in his father's house. "His name stands forth in the 
class of 1771, of Harvard College. He was as devoted a 
royalist as his brother William and soon incurred the 
displeasure of the patriot Whigs, and by the order of the 
town was arrested and sent away to be dealt with as the 
honorable congress shall think proper." In 1776, Mr. 
Paine accompanied the British army from Boston to Hali- 
fax and thence to England. He lived some years in London. 
The enjoyment of an annual pension of £84 from the 
English Government, with a patrimony not inconsiderable 



30 

for those days, precluded the necessity of his sharing those 
sufferings and privations encountered by too many devoted 
royahsts in their adopted country. He was a man of 
elegance and fashion in his day, and is said to have re- 
sembled in person and manners the Prince of Wales of 
that day, later George the Fourth. Mr. Paine in one of 
his letters describes the Battle of Bunker Hill, as he wit- 
nessed it from Beacon Hill and writes, "That d — d rebel 
Warren is dow^n," and in another he refers to him as an 
"old rascal." There were other brothers, but the only 
one I remember was "Uncle John," who lived in his father's 
old house in Lincoln street, an old gray haired gentleman, 
who used to call on my grandfather every day. He died 
six months before Dr. Paine. I have not here referred 
to the old Judge of Probate, Mr. Nathaniel Paine, for a 
long notice of him was written in connection with the 
Chandler house on Main street. 

The fourth of the seven stars and sixth child of John 
and Hannah Gardiner Chandler was Hannah, of whom I 
know nothing. She was born in 1727, married in 1750 to 
Samuel Williams of Roxbury and died in that town in 
1804. At one time Mr. and Mrs. Williams resided in 
Worcester in the old Chandler house in Lincoln square. 

The fifth of the family was Lucretia, who became the 
third wife of Colonel John Murray of Rutland in 1761. 
At this period Miss Chandler was living in Boston with 
her brother-in-law Mr. Benjamin Greene, whose wife had 
died, in the care of his house and family. There appeared 
at this time in society in Boston a very handsome man 
by the name of Murray, of whose antecedents people seemed 
to be ignorant. He fell in love with the beautiful Miss 
Chandler, as she was styled, her two portraits by Copley 
seeming to bear out her right to be so called, and after 
her marriage they went to Rutland to live. This is all 
I can learn of her after leaving the luxurious home of her 
brother-in-law and the pleasant life she was leading in 



31 

"Boston Town," to reside in this dull little New England 
village, not a desirable place of residence now, and how 
much less so it must have been one hundred years and 
more ago. A large household of ten children, belonging 
to the first wife of Col. Murray, must have added to 
her far from attractive surroundings. Here she died, but 
I can find no record of the event, leaving one child, a daugh- 
ter, also named Lucretia, born in 1762, who died in 1836. 
Mrs. Murray's tomb stands quite near the entrance to the 
old grave-yard in Rutland, now much broken and disfig- 
ured. Tradition is responsible for the story that when 
the American soldiers went to arrest Col. Murray, for he 
was an ardent royalist, that, not finding him, they went 
to the grave of his wife and damaged her tombstone. This 
is one of the "family fictions" which should not have 
been disturbed, for on investigating the affair on the spot, 
I learned from the "oldest inhabitant," that this piece 
of vandalism was the work of mischievous boys. 

The story of the portrait of Col. Murray being shot at 
by the soldiers is true, for I have seen this picture, painted 
by Copley, in St, John, New Brunswick, hanging over the 
sideboard in the house of the Hon. Robert L. Hazen, a 
grandson of Colonel Murray. "There is a hole in the 
right breast, the size of a silver dollar; and the tradition 
in the family is that the party of soldiers who sought 
the colonel at his house after his flight, vexed because he 
eluded them, vowed they would leave their mark behind 
them and so sent a bullet through the canvas." Col. 
Murray is represented in a sitting position, in the dress 
of a gentleman of the day, and wearing a wig. 

Colonel Murray left his house in 1774, with his daughter 
Lucretia, taking with them the Copley portraits of himself 
and her mother, and fled to Boston. He in 1776 accom- 
panied the royal army to HaHfax, and from there went 
to England, but after a time returned to St. John, where 
he made a home with his daughter. He died in 1794, 



32 

and is buried in the new Rural Cemetery, over his grave 
being a plain white marble monument erected to his memory. 
After her father's death Miss Murray left St. John, leaving 
the Copley portrait of her father behind her, with Mr. 
Hazen, one of the descendants of his second wife, and 
taking with her the portrait of her mother, went to Lan- 
caster in Massachusetts to be with her relatives the " Chand- 
ler Family," and here she resided until her death, and 
was interred in the Chandler lot in the Cemetery. She 
is said to have been one of the plainest people in her per- 
sonal appearance who ever lived, and that she would 
stand before a looking-glass and say, "How could such a 
handsome father and mother have such an ugly child as 
I am." 

Miss Murray bequeathed the portrait of her mother 
to Mr. Nathaniel Chandler, and it now hangs in the old 
"Chandler House" in South Lancaster, a charming por- 
trait of a beautiful woman, the colors in the painting as 
fresh and bright as they were more than one hundred 
years ago when Copley painted her picture. The other 
portrait of Mrs. Murray by Copley remained in the Green 
family and I saw it just before the great Boston fire in 
1872, when the building in which it was stored for the 
time being was destroyed with all its contents. It was 
a beautiful picture, representing Mrs. Murray sitting in an 
armchair, and Gardiner Green, her little nephew, standing 
by her side. This child, the cousin of Dr. Wm. Paine, 
became later the famous Boston merchant and married 
in England in 1800, Miss Copley, a daughter of Elizabeth 
Clarke and John Singleton Copley, the artist, and sister 
of Lord Lyndhurst the Lord Chancellor of England. 

There was always a mystery surrounding John Murray, 
regarding who he was and where he came from, but his 
descendants had some reasons for supposing that he was 
one of the "Athol Family" of Scotland, the surname of 
the Duke being Murray. Some years since one of Col. 



3a 

Murray's descendants went to "Blair Athol," the family 
seat of the Dukes of Athol, hoping to hear something 
about him, and there found an old retainer of the family 
who recalled the fact that a younger member of the house 
had disappeared many years before, nothing ever being 
heard of him again, though it was supposed he had run 
away to America. When Miss Murray went to Lancaster 
to reside, she had with her some amount of silver plate, 
and on each piece was engrave^ the arms of the "Ducal 
House of Athol." She had small means and when she 
needed money used to sell this silver, one piece at a time, 
"In the grant of the town of Athol by the General Court, 
the first name was that of John Murray, who probably 
gave the name of his ancestral home to the new town." 
Col. Murray was very poor when he came to Rutland, 
and at first "peddled about the country," and then settled 
there and became a merchant. "He was a man of great 
influence in his vicinity and in the town of Rutland, which 
he represented many years in the General Court. On 
election days his house was open to his friends; and the 
good cheer dispensed free to all from his store told in his 
favor at the ballot box. His wealth, social position, and 
political influence, made him one of the colonial noblemen 
who lived in a style that has passed away in New England. 
He was in 1774 appointed by King George Third and 
Lord Dartmouth 'Mandamus' Councillor; but he was not 
sworn into that office, because a party of about five hundred 
stanch Whigs, repaired to his house in Rutland and re- 
quested him to resign his seat in the Council. These 
Whigs were a portion of the company who had compelled 
Judge Timothy Paine to take the same course, marching 
directly to Rutland on the same day. Col. Murray left 
a large estate when he fled to Boston, and in 1778 was 
proscribed and banished; and in 1779, lost his extensive 
property." He must have received with Mrs. Murray 
some considerable amount of money. 



34 

Elizabeth, the sixth daughter of Judge Chandler, was 
born in Worcester in 1732 and was married to Hon. James 
Putnam in 1754, by Chief Justice Sewall. He belonged 
to the "Danvers Family" of Putnam, was a graduate of 
Harvard College in 1746, and commenced the practice of 
law in Worcester in 1749. "His ability and learning soon 
gave him a flood of clients." One of his associates said 
of him: "Judge Putnam was an unerring lawyer, he was 
never astray in his law; he was I am incHned to think, 
the best lawyer in North America." "He was like all 
those connected with the 'Chandler Family' a zealous 
royalist, and on the eve of the Revolution, when the govern- 
ment party found itself voted down four to one in Worces- 
ter, he drew up with the assistance of his wife's nephew, 
Dr. William Paine, the Protest against the strong patriotic 
Whig votes, and proceedings of a previous town meeting, 
which protest stands ' illegibly ' expunged on the book of 
the town records. 

"One who had taken sides so strongly for his king could 
hardly fail to receive from the excited Whigs injuries and 
indignities in various ways. In 1775 Judge Putnam of 
Worcester, a firm friend of government, had two fat 
cows stolen and a very valuable gristmill burned and was 
obliged to leave a fair estate in Worcester and return to 
Boston. 

"He accompanied the British army to New York and 
thence he went to Halifax, and embarked for England in 
1776, where he remained until the peace of 1783. In 
1784 he was appointed a member of the Council of New 
Brunswick and Judge of the Supreme Court of that province. 
He resided in the city of St. John, and retained the office 
of Judge until his death in 1789, in his sixty-fourth year; 
and the tablet over his remains records not only his death, 
but that of his widow, my great-great-aunt, who died in 
1798, aged sixty-six years." 

While in Worcester Judge Putnam lived on Main street, 



35 

on the corner of Park and his law office was on the opposite 
side of the street. In this office John Adams, the second 
president of the United States, studied law, and boarded 
in the family of James Putnam, while he was keeping the 
district school of the village. Mr. Adams says in his Diary, 
"When asked, in 1758, to settle in Worcester as an oppo- 
nent to the royalists and office-holders, the Chandlers, I 
declined, with this among other reasons. That as the 
Chandlers were worthy people and discharged the duties 
of their offices well, I envied not their felicity and had no 
desire to set myself in opposition to them, especially to 
Mr. Putnam, who had married a beautiful daughter 
of that family and had treated me with civility and 
kindness." Mrs. Putnam was rather short in stature, 
of dark complexion, and had dark hair and eyes. There 
are no descendants of this family in Worcester or else- 
where. 

"James Putnam, the oldest son of Judge Putnam, was 
born in 1756 and died in England in 1838. He was at 
Harvard College in 1774; refugee in 1775; and one of the 
eighteen 'Country Gentlemen' who were driven to Boston, 
and who addressed Governor Gage on his departure. He 
became intimate at one time with the Duke of Kent. He 
was barrack master, member of his household, and was 
one of the executors of his will." 

The seventh daughter of Judge Chandler was Katherine, 
the youngest of the family. "These ladies, from tlieir 
beauty, intelligence and social position were called 'The 
Seven Stars.' " She was born in Worcester in 1735, and 
married Colonel Levi Willard of Lancaster in Worcester 
County. He was a merchant there under the firm of 
Willard & Ward. Their house was in South Lancaster, 
nearly opposite the "Chandler Mansion," standing among 
the beautiful elms of that town, while the trading house 
of the firm, the largest in the county of Worcester in their 
day, stood a Uttle more to the south of it, near the street. 



36 

Their store was also nearly opposite, a little to the south 
of the house of his partner in business, Mr. Samuel Ward, 
now the "Chandler House." This trading house I sup- 
pose to have been one of the depots for storing goods, to 
which I have referred in connection with Petersham, from 
which the local shopkeepers in the small villages in the 
vicinity were supplied with what they needed for their 
customers. 

Mr. Willard's estate was inventoried after liis departure 
for England as a refugee at £6538, and was confiscated. He 
returned in 1785, "Mrs. Willard in her advanced years 
was timid and singular about some tilings. One was, she 
was so fearful, when about to drive, that she would get 
into her chaise before the horse was harnessed in." She 
and her husband were laid in the old part of the grave- 
yard in South Lancaster, and a double tombstone stands 
at the head of their graves. There are a number of their 
descendants living, but not in Worcester County, and not 
of their name. Madam Prescott, the mother of the his- 
torian, William H. Prescott, once lived in the "Willard 
Family," being, as a child, sent from the West Indies to 
go to school, which she did in the little old brick school- 
house, which I believe is still standing. There was a ghost 
story connected with the Willard house. One of the sons 
of Mrs. Willard left the house one morning with horse and 
chaise to drive to Boston. A few days later, he was seen 
towards evening driving up the avenue, not only by his 
mother, but by other members of the family, going towards 
the stable. As he did not make his appearance in the 
house, Mrs. Willard sent someone to see where he was, 
and to her amazement it was discovered that no one in 
the rear of the house had seen him, and the horse and 
chaise were not there. In those days it took a long time 
for a letter to reach South Lancaster from Boston, but 
when one arrived it announced the sudden death of Mr. 



37 

Willard at the very moment when he had been seen by 
the family in the avenue! 

Here ends my sketch of the "Chandler Family" in 
Worcester and Worcester County, the materials of which 
have been gleaned from the researches of others, mingled 
with old-time stories which have been handed down from 
one generation to another in the family. It is imperfect- 
ly drawn, but it may serve "to keep in remembrance the 
names and services of this ancient and once numerous" 
Tory family. 

P. S. — In a former paper concerning "Three Old Houses," 
I have referred to Mr, and Mrs. Levi Lincoln as going to 
the "old Chandler House" to hve after their marriage. 
It seems I was misinformed, and from a reliable source I 
learn that they spent some time in the old Timothy Paine 
house in Lincoln street before moving to Lincoln square. 

An amusing incident occurred while they were in resi- 
dence here. Miss Ann Sever, the sister of Mrs. Lincoln, 
was on a visit to the latter, and being in her youth con- 
sidered a great beauty, had many admirers. One day 
she saw one of them on whom she had not smiled approach- 
ing the house, and hoping he had not seen her, she escaped 
and hid in a closet under the stairs. He had seen her, 
however, and meaning to punish her for escaping him, 
not only called at the house, but remained to tea, and for 
some time later, and it was only after his departure she 
could free herself. Miss Sever married Dr. John Brazer, 
a native of Worcester, and the pastor of the North Church 
in Salem. 



LB '08 



A SKETCH 



OF THE 



CHANDLER FAMILY, 

IN WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS. 

BY 

MRS. p:. o. p. sturgis. 



PRIVATELY PRINTED. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



021 549 417 2 



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